Eziko students empowered with skills

The students from Eziko Cooking and Catering School busy testing new recipes in the kitchen.

A group of students from Eziko Cooking and Catering School in Langa were equipped with critical cooking skills when a cheese and diary production company conducted an intensive cooking training at the school earlier this week.

The training sessions by Lancewood Holdings on Tuesday February 5 aimed to boost the students’ cooking knowledge and skills.

The students were given recipes to recreate and were judged on their final product. Customer care services manager at the company, Elmien Fourie, said they had been in partnership with the school for nearly three years and wanted to help them produce top chefs in the country.

She said the training aims to expand the students’ knowledge and challenge them to bring out their creativity.

Ms Fourie said their partnership had enabled them to train new chefs.

She emphasised that the partnership with the school would continue, and hoped that the students would be able to implement what they had learned in their workplaces.

She added that it was highly likely that the students would have to use their products wherever they would get employment and the training helped to familiarise them with it.

She said they saw the value and importance of having such programmes and partnerships.

“We want to bring new skills to these students.

“We want to assure others that this school produces top chefs and business-minded people,” she said.

Ms Fourie said they discovered the students struggled to accurately execute the recipes.

She said they taught them how to make different food, the ingredients’ life span and how to store them.

Founder and director of the cooking and catering school, Victor Mguqulwa, said the training had afforded the students the opportunity to learn and explore new recipes and products.

He said the key aim of the training were to equip them with many skills so that when they get into the field they would be able to prepare dishes according to these recipes without hassles.

Mr Mguqulwa said the impact of these partnerships and training programmes had yielded the desired outcomes.

He said the harsh and sad reality was that it was extremely expensive to enrol at hospitality institutions. “We are grateful.

“We will always remain indebted to them. We are always looking forward to work with institutions that have vast skills and knowledge about the industry.

“We want to produce quality chefs.

“We have created a reputation for producing quality students and it is simply because of training like this,” he said.

Student Nombuyiselo Mehlomane said she opted to enroll at the school because of its reputation and the fees were affordable.

The 35-year-old said she intendsedto use the skills she acquires at the school to run her own business in the future.

Another student Nandipha Qhoyi described the training as intense and vital. The 29-year-old intends to start her own bakery.

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The students from Eziko Cooking and Catering School busy testing new recipes in the kitchen.